Abstract
The reports of the Swiss surgeons that patients who had their thyroid removed showed all the symptoms of cretinism led Wagner-Jauregg (the Austrian psychiatrist who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1927) in 1884 to carry out animal experiments on the effects of removing the thyroid gland. The animals showed all the symptoms of myxoedema. In 1892 he began his study of cretinism and independently of Th. Kocher formulated a theory according to which the phenomenon of cretinism could be explained by the malfunction of the thyroid gland. The steps he took to treat the condition with thyroid extracts or tablets are described in detail.
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